Though the plight of refugees and problems of cities grabbed the headlines at What Design Can Do, cultural consciousness has always been a constant thread running through presentations at the conference. And this year’s event was no exception. Indeed, much of the output of cutting edge creatives today focuses on emphasizing the unique identity of cultures across the globe. Two speakers in particular this year, Brazilian chef Alex Atala and Mexican graphic artist Alejandro Magallanes, draw on the cultural richness and on the challenges facing their countries to feed their work.

The Citizen Designer

Perhaps nobody epitomized that more this year than Mexican graphic designer Alejandro Magallanes. While his animations, web designs and illustrations have made him famous in the ‘cultural’ world, he pointed out his role and responsibility as an ordinary citizen in the face of pressing social problems in his country. He always responds by asking a simple question: ‘What Can I Do?’

That has prompted him to create posters that address a myriad of issues. One campaign encourages people in the poorest regions of Mexico to seek medical help in treating cataracts. Another exposes the reckless activity of petroleum companies in Guadalajara.

The sheer range of issues highlighted by Magallanes in his distinctive, hand-drawn style reads like a roll-call of Mexican woes: deadly drug wars, the disappearance of women in Juarez, domestic violence, Separatismo opposition to capitalism, the privatization of electricity syndicates and countless more.

‘One poster cannot change the world,’ branding expert Michael Johnson had stated earlier. Magallanes agreed, but countered by explaining what it can do. ‘Graphic designers have the power to inhabit other people’s minds with their images.’

He illustrated just how effective that power can be with his ‘No More Bloodshed’ image (the word ‘NO’ followed by a plus symbol and a blood spatter), which has taken on a life of its own in newspapers, cartoons and placards after being adopted by the public as a generic symbol of resistance. And thus his ‘What Can I Do?’ had been embraced by protesters throughout Mexico who were asking themselves ‘What Can We Do?’

The Creative Explorer

While Magallanes was planting images in the minds of Mexicans, further south in Brazil, star chef Alex Atala was also empowering communities across his country. His fame and fortune as one of the world’s most sought-after chefs hasn’t blinded him to the source of his work, the produce that is unique to his native Brazil.

‘By using Brazilian ingredients, I began to realize that I needed to understand them better. What happened to them before they ended up in the pan? So I ended up in the Amazon.’

His journey of exploration led him to work with indigenous communities like the Baniwa people living along the Içana River deep in the Amazon, where they harvest the Tipo Jiquitaia chilli, an indigenous vegetable he favours in his recipes.

‘Through the kitchen I got to know the ingredient and where it came from, that there were people behind it, producers.’ Eating, cooking and producing food are all connected, noted Atala. ‘What is the world’s biggest social media?’ he asked his audience at What Design Can Do. ‘Facebook? No. The biggest social media today is food. Food connects seven billion people in the world.’

His influential position within the human food chain isn’t lost on him. ‘Chefs used to have secrets,’ he said, ‘but not any more. Now they go public, because they recognize their impact on society.’

Originality for its own sake isn’t a consideration for Atala. ‘Being creative does not mean doing something nobody has done before,’ he explained. ‘Being creative means doing something everybody else does too, but in a new and unexpected way.’

The Cultural Investigator

Two other designers who export a Brazilian sensibility all over the world, are Fernando and Humberto Campana. At What Design Can Do they told the audience how they view their studio in Sao Paolo as a school of crafts, a place bustling with weaving, sewing and embroidering, much of it involving traditional artisans. ‘Our mission today is to rescue crafts that are disappearing, to modernize them without changing their roots.’

The vibrant, chaotic and noisy streets of São Paolo are reflected in everything they make. ‘Most of our inspiration comes from poverty. Or rather, in the smart solutions that people in poverty come up with for their houses, furniture, toys.’

Hence their preference for cheap materials such as plastic and cardboard, which they assemble into seemingly casual yet cleverly crafted pieces of furniture. Scraps and leftovers also frequently find their way into Campana designs. ‘When we started we couldn’t afford sophisticated tools for casting and moulding, so we improvised, in the same way that most Brazilians improvise their own lives.’

Can we speak of a distinctly Brazilian mindset that they share with someone like Alex Atala? ‘Brazilian design is an investigation of our hybrid culture and roots, the melting pot of races that inhabit our country — African, Portuguese, Indigenous, Asian, Italian,’ says Fernando Campana. ‘This is a great moment in Brazil, culturally speaking.’

Top image: Alex Atala (photo Leo Veger)

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